Union Budget 2023-24 preparations are in full swing. Ahead of its release, Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the pre-budget consultation meetings for the Budget 2023. As of Monday, these pre-budget consultations, held in virtual mode, have concluded.
According to the official release, Ministry of Finance held these pre-budget consultations from November 21 to 28, 2022. In this, more than 110 invitees representing seven stakeholder groups participated in eight rounds of meetings. Among these stakeholders were experts from Agriculture and Agro Processing Industry; Industry, Infrastructure & Climate Change; Financial Sector and Capital Markets; Services and Trade; Social Sector; Trade Unions and Labour Organisations and Economists.
On different dates, different stakeholder groups were invited to pitch in and give their suggestions on a variety of issues concerning the Union Budget 2023-24. It must be noted that the inputs are mere suggestions and may or not be a part of the forthcoming Budget.
As per the release, the representatives and experts gave suggestions for green certification to help MSMEs, urban employment guarantee programme, rationalisation of income tax, creation of innovation clusters, ways to improve domestic supply chains, introduction of EV policy, measures to promote India as a hub for Green Hydrogen, Training and Accreditation of Care Economy Workers, coverage of unorganised workers under ESIC, fiscal consolidation and so on.
Before this, reports also surfaced that suggested that the Centre is expected to meet is fiscal deficit target ahead of the Union Budget 2023.
